Hammer Falls on Former Murder Inc.

The other shoe has dropped in the two-year investigation of rap label Murder Inc. (now called “The Inc.” for obvious PR reasons) — partly owned by Island Def Jam, a Universal Music label — for murder, money-laundering, gun charges and a variety of strong-arm tactics.

Damn, these fuckers are unsavory:

The hip-hop label behind music superstars Ashanti and Ja Rule was part of a murderous criminal enterprise that protected its interstate crack and heroin operation with calculated street assassinations, federal authorities charged Wednesday.

Label head Irv “Gotti” Lorenzo and his brother Christopher surrendered to the FBI on money-laundering charges Wednesday as federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment seeking to confiscate all the assets of their label, The Inc.

Their childhood friend, Kenneth “Supreme” McGriff, one of New York’s most notorious drug kingpins, was charged with murder, racketeering and other crimes that prosecutors said were intended to eliminate and intimidate potential witnesses.

….Federal agents began to close in on McGriff and the Lorenzos in recent months with arrests that netted Ja Rule’s manager and a bookkeeper for The Inc. At least five other defendants, including associates of McGriff, already have been charged.

McGriff, 44, was founder of the Supreme Team, once one of the city’s most violent drug crews. Investigators suspect that after he finished serving about nine years for drug conspiracy in 1997, he set about reviving his lucrative — and deadly — drug-dealing operation.

Cooperating witnesses have told investigators that McGriff admitted to the 2001 revenge slaying of up-and-coming rapper E-Money Bags. Prosecutors also believe he arranged the Baltimore killing one month later of a suspected informant in his drug organization. Another man also died in the Baltimore shooting. [AP]

I guess that’s what they mean by keeping it real.